The Lady and The Warlock
by WhereverUAre
Summary: What did Merlin go through after Freya died?   Two shot.
1. Chapter 1

AN: when all the merthur and mergana ask me what is to happen to merlin because I so ardently ship ArMor, I thought I could challenge myself to a short story to show them what I think will happen to merlin.

Please leave a review, good or bad. I would also like to know your ideas and opinions about what you would like to see happen.

Merlin woke up to the sound of windows hitting their panes leaving a resounding sound in his almost empty room. The rain was seeping water into his room. He jumped out of bed to shut the window when he realized that some of his books were getting wet. As he shut the window, he looked into the courtyard filling up with water.

Freya had died there a two weeks ago.

He went back to bed, grief filling his heart. He tossed and turned in bed, knowing that his actions were futile. He knew that sleep was not going to welcome him as his mind was now filled with a whirlpool of memories.

Beautiful Freya

Gentle Freya.

How unfair the world was to you.

Merlin pushed those thoughts from his head and rolled out of bed with a deep sigh. No point in trying to sleep now. His head was filled with too many torturous thoughts.

He slowly snuck out of Gaius' chambers and walked soundlessly till he reached the armory. He reached for the polish and gathered Arthur's armor. He could navigate quite well in the dark now. After all, he had spent to last couple of weeks doing this. He starting scrubbing the clean metal. He enjoyed the sting of his tired muscles and reveled at the feel of sweat on his forehead. He didn't entertain any thought. Just followed the hypnotic movement of his hand on the armor.

Forward, backward, forward

After he was satisfied with the blinding gleam of the armor in the candlelight, he pushed those tormenting thoughts from his head and grabbed another suit of armor, the owner unknown. He scrubbed it hard, desperate for anything to keep the thought of her from his mind. He scrubbed harder when he felt the dam struggling.

He scrubbed till he could no longer go on and fell asleep on the cold floor with armor wax dripping all around him.

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Gaius woke up to the sound of someone moving around the room, tinkering with the innumerous glass instruments and ruffling of pages. Merlin was awake and alert. Cleaning up as much as he could and setting the small work table for breakfast. Gaius wasn't surprised, this change in Merlin's behavior had started a few weeks ago. However, Gaius was worried out of his mind. Merlin wasn't eating enough. The boy was always thin but now he was emancipated and could only eat just enough to get him through the day. He was tired, sleepy and sullen all the time. He rarely smiled and when he did it was so forced that Gaius could almost hear Merlin's heart crumble. Gaius also heard him sneak out at night and quietly walk in the early hours of the morning, smelling like armor. Sometimes, he wouldn't even return in the mornings.

And once again, merlin took a hasty few bites of the breakfast and ran off to attend to Arthur. Gauis rose heavily from his place and made a mental note to talk to Arthur about it. Surely, the young prince would know how to comfort his friend. Maybe he knew what had gotten merlin into such a state.

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Merlin walked into Arthur's room silently. Sunlight was streaming through the windows but the prince was still snoring away to glory. He was still exhausted from his quest, he could afford to sleep in a bit. Merlin, unable to stay idle, started picking up miscellaneous items off the floor and putting them back into place. Sleep beared down on his eyelids, but he pushed the idea of it out of his head. There was a lot to do and Arthur wouldn't be too kind about a break now. Besides, sleep only tortured with him painful memories. He was scrubbing the table clean when he heard the prince stir. He continued scrubbing till the prince called for him.

"merlin, is that you? On time?"

"yes, sire."

"miracles do happen then."

"yes,sire."

Arthur, even though he would never admit it, was worried out of his mind. He could see that merlin was beyond emancipated. The circles under his eyes clung to his skin like purple bruises, his eyelids drooping. Merlin didn't seem to be able to talk anymore.

'merlin, what's wrong?"

_Where do I begin, Arthur ?_

"_everything is fine my lord."_

"_merlin, you know you can trust me right?_

_Arthur rolled out of bed and walked towards merlin who was scrubbing the surface of the table as though his life depended on it. _

"_Of course sire. "_

"_then tell me what's wrong."_

"_nothing sire"_

_Frustrated beyond belife. Arthur's patience wore thin._

"_merlin."_

"_sire?"_

"_get out"_

'_but I have not finished my chores."_

"_get out"_

_Merlin, looked a little startled by Arthur's curt orders but he held hid tongue and pulled his body slowly out of the room as though the weight of Camelot was on his shoulders. Waiting at the door to shut it after merlin left, arhur's temper rose to impossible heights. As merlin took his own sweet time, sweat dripping off his forehead Arthur shoved merlin out of his room with a little more force than necessary. _

_The world suddenly moved around merlin while the ground rose upto meet him. He was unconscious before he hit the ground. _


	2. Chapter 2

Merlin was fast asleep on the bed in his room when Arthur decided that he could no longer keep his silence.

"Gaius, what happened to him?"

"His body was deprived of sleep, food and water for an unhealthy amount of time, Sire."

"And how did that come to be, Gaius? Surely as his guardian, you must have ensured that he has regular meals and sleep."

Gaius faced Arthur looking rather offended.

"I did try to coax him into eating and sleeping sire. He would just not respond to my pleas. Something on his mind reduced him to this state. As a matter of fact, I was heading out to find you to check if you knew anything about what is troubling him when you carried him in here."

"I wish I knew Gaius. For now, I'm just as clueless as you are. What can we do now?"

"Nothing much sire, we just wait for him to wake up and then try to get him some nutrition. After he is capable of handling it, we must find out what moved him to risk his health so. Why don't you head back to your duties, Arthur? I will send word if there is any change. I'm sure your father is looking for you."

"Of course, Gaius."

As Arthur turned to reach for the door, a soldier burst into the physician's chambers.

"Gaius ! Sir Leon took a fall from his horse and has injured his head deeply! The king has sent for you immediately!"

Gaius looked at Merlin for a moment before making up his mind.

"Sire, if you would be kind enough to watch over Merlin till I manage to send Gwen to look after him, I will go attend to Leon. If Merlin wakes up before she turns up, please try to make him eat or drink. There are some fruits in that shelf."

And before Arthur could respond, Gaius left the room with his medical kit, the frantic soldier showing the way.

Without any option, Arthur sat down heavily on the stool next to Merlin's bed. Before, he had any time to even think, Merlin began to come around.

"Merlin, are you awake? Can you hear me? Merlin?"

Merlin looked at him with those haunted blue eyes, pushed himself up with some help from Arthur before he could actually listen to Arthur rant about something. By the time he could clear his vision, Arthur was pushing a bowl of fruits into his hands.

"Eat."

Unable to think of a way to get out of the situation, merlin looked into the bowl.

Merlin looked at the strawberries in front of him. The redness of the fruit. His vision as he shook at the sight of them. After a minute they looked like a rose. The rose was so red. Like the dress she was wearing. The dress was drenched with her blood. Her blood was all over the both of them by the time he could carry her to the lake, his arms stinging. No matter how far he was from the place, he could still smell the blood, the sodden stones of the pitiful place that Freya was a prisoner of for her last days. There was so much blood. More than he had ever seen. The feel of the warm and sticky liquid all over him turned his stomach and before he knew it he retched all over Arthur's feet. His shoulders groaned and cracked as the sickness shook his very core. Soaring pains shot through his body as he chocked on bile and memories for the longest time before he gained control over his stomach. His body was covered with cold sweat and his vision was shaking. He was finally able to focus on Arthur's face but it seemed so distant. Arthur was saying something, his mouth was moving. Before he could try to listen to his master, blissful darkness took over him.

"God Merlin, What happened to you?" asked Arthur, mostly to himself as he watched his friend try to shift into a more comfortable position on the bed.


End file.
